He does not work in the attack, he quietly overshadows the gunner Josel or the toy Rodrygo from the reserve. The one who wears the number of the legendary Zinedine Zidane is in charge of important goals.
“He was born for Real,” the stopper Nacho said to his teammate after the match for the UEFA website. After all, he has already pulled a thorn from the heel of the big Spanish club several times. This time in regulation time, in a competition the club has dominated fourteen times, the most of all.
“Let’s hope he continues to show moments like this,” added the Brazilian defender with a smirk.
“I’m not going to lie, maybe I’ll score goals even in the fourth to fifth minutes of setup. Although, I think it would have been good for my heart if I had scored earlier,” said a relieved Bellingham.
An Englishman who chose the Spanish giant instead of the top clubs from his homeland in the most watched league competition in the world. He had to pay over two and a half billion crowns for the jewel from Dortmund.
A strange move? Maybe. However, even on his stats, you can easily see that he made the right choice. And that he does not work in the Premier League? It doesn’t really take long to guess in which country a certain Argentinian and Portuguese became the most famous.
Real’s Antonio Rüdiger attempts a shot against Union Berlin.
Bellingham has only been in Spain for a few months and he has already conquered it. Five league matches, five goals – mostly key ones, and one assist.
“I am very grateful to my teammates and everyone at the club who have done a good job in integrating me into the team. I’m only interested in continuing in my current form. At this stage of the season, nothing is being won yet,” pointed out the only 20-year-old midfielder.
Interesting fact: Bellingham is the sixth English player to play for Real Madrid in European Cups after Laurie Cunningham, Steve McManaman, David Beckham, Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate. All five have also scored, most recently in October 2005 when Jonathan Woodgate and David Beckham were involved in a 4-1 home win over Rosenborg.
After a long time, Bellingham also expanded the statistics of the English legionnaires. When you watch him with the ball, you can see how much he enjoys football. He gets angry in a healthy way, complements attack and defense, the field is full of him.
Jude Bellingham opens the scoring against Union Berlin.
“Coming here means a lot more to me than I ever dreamed. Ever since I watched TV, I’ve been watching Real… and now I’ve put on this shirt and scored a goal in it. Great,” he gushed.
“I’m a confident lad but I really couldn’t have hoped to start as well as we have now in terms of goals.”
The Czech midfielder Alex Král, who played the entire match in Madrid in the Union jersey, helped him with the latter. He clumsily blocked Valverde’s shot directly at the arriving Bellingham.
“He has quality. This is very important. He also has a bit of luck. That goal was a bit similar to the one against Getafe, the ball bounced. Maybe he is smarter, faster than others. Anyway, he has quality and that’s what sets him apart,” coach Carlo Ancelloti praised his charge.
Real thus opened the group stage with a victory. But he pushed himself, which he is not used to. Next he has a trip to Napoli, who won the match in Braza 2:1. The unpleasant Italian champion reached the quarter-finals last year.
“We have a group that looks quite complicated. It was a good game, a lot of shots on goal, we just had to be very careful on the counter-attacks. Overall, we are very satisfied with this victory,” concluded Nacho.